Flexible tubular covering.



n gi@ No. 738,250. PATENTED SEPT. 8, 1903. J. STANLEY.

FLEXIBLE TUBULAR COVERING.

APPLICATION FILED 0011.31. 1902.

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UNITED STATES Patented September 8, 1903.

JAMES STANLEY, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

FLEXIBLE TUBULAR COVERING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 738,250, datedSeptember 8, 1903.

Application filed October 31, 1902. Serial No. 129,568. (No model.)

T0 all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES STANLEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jer- 5 sey,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flexible TubularCoverings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to numerals ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The present invention has reference generally to improvements inflexible tubular coverings made of rubber or other similar materialhaving resilient properties; and the invention relates more particularlyto a novel construction of flexible tubular covering employed for thecovering of wire joints, links of chains, mouthpiece-cores ofbridle-bits, and, in fact, any other article which is adapted to beprotected by a covering and to which a covering of the characterhereinafter fully described is applicable.

The present invention has for its primary object `to provide a coveringadapted to be wrapped or rolled about an article to form a tubularcovering, the said covering being made from a normally fiat sheet ofliexible material which will rebound from a fiat relation into itswrapped or rolled relation, thereby providing a tubular covering whichcan be readily applied about the article which is to be covered and bymeans of its own closing properties will be safely retained against anyaccidental displacement and that without the use of cement or otherfastening means for holding the flexible covering in said place.

Other objects of the invention not at this time more particularlyspecified will be evident from the following detailed description of theinvention.

This invention therefore consists in the novel flexible coveringhereinafter described; and the invention consists, furthermore, in thevarious novel arrangements and combinations of parts set forth in thefollowing specification and then finally embodied in the clauses of theclaim, which are appended to and form a part of this specification,

lindrical surface in spiral convolutions, the same producing a'sheetadapted to be wrapped about the body to be covered, said sheet havingcorrugations adapted to lit and correspond to the joints orconnecting-links with which the tube is to be employed, so as to preventlateral movement of the tube when in position upon the article.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure lis a face view of a exible tubular covering embodying thevarious features of my present invention; and Fig. 2 is a longitudinalvertical section of the same, the covering in both instances beingrepresented in connection with a Wire joint. Fig. 3 is a verticalcross-section on an enlarged scale, said section being taken on line 3 3in Fig. l of the drawings. Fig. 4 is a face view of the flexible sheetprior to being rolled into the said flexible and tubular covering, thesheet being provided with one arrangement of grooves or corrugations.Fig. 5 is a face View of a iiexible tubular covering of aslightly-modified form of construction, but still embodying theprinciples of this invention.

Similar numerals of reference are employed in all of the saidhereinabove-described views to indicate corresponding parts.

Referring to the several figures of the drawings, the covering isindicated by the reference-numeral l, and it is formed, preferably, bybeing molded in the form of a iiexible sheet 2, (see Fig. 4,) which ismade of rubber or other similar material properly vulcanized, or thecovering is first molded or otherwise made in the form of a rubbertubing, which is then turned against th'e sharp cutting edge of a cutterin the well-known manner of cutting sheets of rubber from a core and eutinto the sheet 2. This sheet 2, as is illustrated in said Fig. 4, ispreferably provided with any suitable arrangement of grooves orcorrugations 3, and the sheet has been treated under pressure in such amanner that its normal tendency is to roll or wrap itself about theedget to its oppositely-located and curved edge 5 in convolutions 6, asillustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, and thereby forming a completetubing or covering l, which can be readily wrapped about any article orbody, as a wire joint '7, (indicated in Figs. l, 2, and 3,) or about thelinks of a chain or a mouthpiece of a bit to thoroughly envelop thesame, the grooves' or corrugations 3 .fitting themselves over the jointsand the convolutions of two pieces of twisted wire oranyotherjoint orconnection to prevent any possibility of the flexiblecoveringslippinglongitudinally upon thejoint. It willbe noticed fromaninspection of Fig. 3 of the drawings that the respective marginal edgeportions 4 and 5 of the sheet are chamfered, so that a perfectcylindrical covering will be produced when the resilient properties ofthe sheet cause the same to Wrap or roll itself in the mannerhereinabove set forth and as illustratedin the several figures of thedrawings. In order that the said curved edge 5 of the wrapped sheet willat all times lie closely to and tightly hug the remaining part of theformed tube, a suitably-constructed Iiexible band or bands 8, made ofrubber or other analogous material, may be sprung over the covering whenin position upon the joint 7, as indicated in the drawings; but saidband or bands are not absolutely necessary and may be dispensed with, ifdesired. To prevent, however, the opening out or the buckling of thisedge 5 when the covering l is used with joints which are subject tobending, the use of such band or bands is preferable.

In the construction represented in Fig. 5 I have provided the sheet 2with large marginal beads or ribs, as 9, which may be desirable' in someuses to which the covering is to be put, since such beads or ribs givegreater rigidity when thesheet is rolled or wrapped upon itself, as willbe clearly evident.

My novel form of covering provides a flexible tubular covering which canbe put to many uses and being wrapped many times upon itself producesadequate strength Withoutany necessityof further reinforcing members ordevices.

`vVhen it is desired to remove the covering, this can be quickly andeasily accomplished Without destruction of the covering, and it canagain be just as readily placed in its position about a joint or thelike for the protection of the same.

The covering can be cheaply and easily made and may be putto innumerableuses.

n Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. A tubularcovering formed from a sheet of flexible material having resilientproperties, said sheet having a straight edge and an oppositelylocatedcurved edge, said edges also being chamfered, as set'forth, and saidsheet being of such character that it will Wrap itself about an articleand will be held thereon, substantially as and for the purposes setforth.

2. A tubular covering formed from a sheet of liexible material havingresilient properties, said sheet having a straight edge and anoppositely-located curved edge, said edges also being chamfered, as setforth, and said sheet being of such character that it will Wrap itselfabout an article and will be held thereon, and corrugations on saidsheet, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. A tubular covering formed from asheet of iiexible material havingresilient propere-f ties, said sheet having a straight edge and anv

